Boss: Murray will get even better!

Nigel Adkins was delighted with Glenn Murray's debut performance - and warned that the striker is going to get even better!

In our history, only eight players had scored two goals on their Reading debut, and Glenn became the ninth member of that elite club with a header in each half against ten-men Fulham.

Murray fully deserved his man of the match award, not just for his goals but also for his link-up play and combinations with strike partner Simon Cox.

It was a dream debut for the frontman, and Adkins said, "Glenn scored two goals and he's only going to get better.

"He's come in, worked really hard and has done really well. He's got all kinds of finishes in the locker and it looked like he'd been playing with Coxy for years, two intelligent players.

"We took him off with 25 minutes to go, he's got to get used to playing football again and getting to that fitness level.

"And we've got options as well now, Pav came on after being injured, and Nick Blackman came on and scored a really good goal."

Nigel took our new number 20 off midway through the second half, and explained why he wisely denied the striker the chance of a debut hat-trick.

"It was a call I had to make, a striker on two goals always wants a hat-trick. But I know he's just joined so I have to be mindful, and it's seven games in 22 days.

"I've got to look at the big picture and make the decisions. We lost Pavel to injury recently because we weren't able to take him off in games, but I was able to change it today. I'd love Glenn to have got a third goal, but you'll kick yourself if he breaks down. You just take the risk out of it."

Another home debutant Oliver Norwood was also hugely impressive, with the boss saying, "Norwood pinged the ball all around the pitch - and Hopey complemented him really well in there. I thought we played some really good football.

"We scored three and it could have been several more, their keeper made some really good saves.

"We started brightly and scored a very good goal from a fantastic Jordan Obita cross. It was a really good game that we controlled for long periods.

"We showed a range of passing, yes they had a man sent off but we were already in the lead at that point. It gave us a different challenge because they sat deeper.

"So it's 3-0, three points and a third clean sheet on the spin. We were good value for it.

"We've still got ten players unavailable, some big names and that makes us really strong when they come back. The confidence and camaraderie are very high."